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Re: Windows' future (reprise)


From: Valdis.Kletnieks () vt edu
Date: Mon, 17 May 2010 00:18:34 -0400

On Mon, 17 May 2010 03:48:36 BST, lsi said:

It is mutating at approx 243% per annum, a rate which is more than
twice as fast as Moore's Law (200% every 24 months).  I do find this
alarming, because I want my CPU back.  So does everyone else I know.

Unfortunately, you haven't shown that the CPU actually consumed is going up by
243% or any significant fraction thereof.  Admittedly, A/V products are slowly
taking more and more resources, but nowhere near a Moore's Law rate.

Do some benchmarking.  Time how long it takes to scan a collection of 500 or so
random files using a 2007 version of your favorite A/V software and signatures,
and time how long this week's version take. The difference between the two
numbers is the CPU you can "get back". I guarantee it has no relationship
to the 243% you're complaining about (for starters, even if it *was* gaining
243% a year, that's a 243% grown rate of the 5% or so your anti-virus uses,
not of your entire CPU capacity.

I'm not analysing infections, I'm analysing "new threats" (as defined
by Symantec).

Read Thor's description of the difference between threats and risks.

Defending against threats doesn't consume additional CPU.
Defending against risks *may* consume additional CPU.


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